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Jinsol Park headshot

Recently, Martin PhD candidate Jinsol Park successfully defended her dissertation. She explains her dissertation research this way, "In this dissertation, I have sought to advance our knowledge about the effects of devolving the fiscal authority of governments to lower-level actors. The devolution of fiscal power can occur at varying levels, such as from the central to lower-levels of governments or from the government to the public. By disentangling these two types of relations between higher- and lower-level actors in the government system, I investigated two mechanisms of devolving fiscal power—participatory budgeting and fiscal decentralization.

A successful defense is not her first significant accomplishment as a PhD student. She has a number of publications:

When asked about how the Martin School prepared her, Jinsol offered, 

The intellectually inspiring, warm, and cheering environment of the Martin School community has prepared me to successfully defend my dissertation. Particularly, my committee chair Dr. J.S. Butler’s continuous encouragement and support have made this accomplishment possible. He taught me how to view things from a different angle when I struggled with my research. His positive attitude and firm trust in students were important driving factors that made this accomplishment possible.

We're exceptionally proud of her and all of our PhDs. There is more exciting news about our graduates coming in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!